Ottawa Breakouts

Breakout Speakers

Charles Karugu

Come and See: Helping Your Friends Behold Jesus

What if sharing your faith started less with knowing exactly what to say and more with learning to see where Jesus is already at work? Together, we’ll explore how beholding Jesus changes the way we see our friends, our schools, and the opportunities around us, and how the Holy Spirit can help us invite others to come and see Jesus for themselves.

Madison Moore

What no one wants to talk about: shame, suicide, and mental health

This session explores the realities of mental health, shame, and thoughts that often feel too heavy or uncomfortable to talk about. Together, we’ll create a space to bring what’s hidden into the light, rooted in the truth that God meets us in our darkest places. We’ll unpack how shame keeps us isolated, how struggles with mental health can feel overwhelming, and how the light of Christ brings clarity, hope, and freedom. Through honest conversation, faith, and practical tools, this breakout is a reminder that you are not alone, and that there is hope.

Mathios Felmina

Identity in Christ

This breakout explores what it truly means to find your identity in Christ. But once you discover it, what comes next? In a world that constantly tries to define you through performance, labels, and comparison, we will look at what Scripture says about who you are in Jesus and how that truth transforms the way you think, live, and see yourself.

Cassie Pitt

Finding Your Direction After High School: Everyone has an opinion, but God knows your purpose

Figuring out what to do after high school can be exciting and overwhelming. With infinite possibilities, and infinite opinions, it can be hard to know what to do, and hard to hear God’s voice. Let’s tackle how to find some clarity – and why your journey and your life is safe in God’s hands even if it doesn’t quite turn out the way you planned.

Kim Madume

(For Leaders) Present, Not Perfect: Walking with Youth Through Mental Health Challenges

Today’s youth are facing unprecedented mental health challenges and often, they bring those struggles to you first. This session will help you feel more confident in how to respond with care, wisdom, and humility. Learn how to be a calm, grounded presence, recognize patterns that require deeper support, and navigate when to lean in and when to bring others alongside. You don’t have to be a therapist to make a meaningful impact.

Sarah Starlund

Kinda Chic to Follow Jesus: Learning to live like Him

Following Jesus is more than doing good things, it’s learning to live like Him. In a world full of noise, pressure, opinions, notifications, and competing voices, how do we actually follow Jesus? In this workshop, we’ll dive into what it looks like to follow Jesus daily and become more like Him through spiritual practices. We’ll learn to slow down, listen for God’s voice, and create space to follow Him in the middle of the noise. We’ll also explore what it means to follow Jesus in a world that constantly pulls us in different directions. How do we resist simply going with the flow while showing people the love, grace, and character of Jesus?

Matt Schmid

(For Leaders) Stop Recruiting, Start Reproducing

What if the answer to never having enough leaders isn’t recruiting more people—but reproducing the leaders already around us? When youth pastors and leaders feel stretched thin and constantly filling gaps, it’s time to stop recruiting and start reproducing by intentionally making disciples who make disciples and building leadership development into the DNA of our ministries. Discover how helping others succeed can multiply your impact and build a ministry that keeps growing beyond you.

Caden Fabrizio

How to awaken the western church